University of Baltimore plans student apartment building in midtown

October 07, 2010|By Baltimore Sun staff

The University of Baltimore has announced plans by a private developer to build an 11-story, 323-bed apartment building for students on a university-owned parcel of land at the northeast corner of Maryland Avenue and West Biddle Street.

The $27 million project marks the first time a developer has undertaken the new construction of student housing in midtown Baltimore, the university said in a news release. The developer, Bethesda-based Potomac Holdings, expects to break ground in April 2011 and to complete the project by summer 2012. Occupancy is expected by fall 2012.

The land, owned by University Properties Inc., a subsidiary of the University of Baltimore Foundation, is the site of the former Gunther Hardware building and is now a surface parking lot. The foundation will sell the ground for $700,000 to Potomac, which will fund and manage the design and construction of the facility, which it will manage once completed.

The 124,000-square-foot building will feature 114 studio, two- and four-bedroom apartments — most with bathrooms for each occupant. The ground floor will offer 5,000 square feet of retail space. University of Baltimore students will be the building's primary occupants, but students from other local institutions also will be able to live in the apartments.

Potomac Holdings also is building the Varsity at College Park, a mixed-use student housing development along Route 1 at the University of Maryland, College Park. The 901-bed project, with 20,000 square feet of retail space, is scheduled to open in fall 2011.